OS opportunity in Boston

[Bill Joiner]

Hello everyone,

I have an opportunity for someone who has some experience in Opening Space,
who'd like to fill in for me doing a four-and-a-half hour OS for a gathering
of the Institute for Management Consultants (actually a professional
association rather than an institute) in Concord, Massachusetts, on Monday,
May 15 (10:30-3:00).  I've just been called out of town for seveal days,
including the 15th, for something I absolutely must do.

I've done several of these half-day Open Space events, and as others on this
list have testified, they have worked really well.  This particular event is
a nice opportunity for someone to have a good group of management
consultants (of all types) learn about Open Space and you as an Open Space
facilitator - as many of them may be in a position to suggest Open Space to
their clients.  The event itself will be pro bono.

One of the two sponsors is someone I've done this with before with another
association, and the other sponsor is someone who's very enthusiastic about
using Open Space.  The announcement is already out.  I will be available to
help with the "hand-off" - helping you connect with the sponsors and getting
you up to speed on the theme and what they want from the event.

If you are interested and available to do this, please let me know asap.

Thanks!

Bill Joiner

Synergy by Design

www.synergybydesign.com





-----Original Message-----
From: Ralph Copleman <ralph at EARTHDREAMS.NET>
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
Date: Friday, April 28, 2000 10:22 AM
Subject: Training is as training does, sometimes


>Hi,
>
>I picked up a few things to think about today.  Here's the story...
>
>Several weeks ago an internal colleague at a drug company called to ask me
>if I would teach her how to open space.  She had a meeting coming up very
>soon and she thought it would be a good technique.  Yes, she'd seen it
done,
>by some guy named Harrison Owen.  Yes, she'd read the book.  I said okay.
>
>Short on time, we did the training in three hours.  I arranged a conference
>room as I would a larger room for OS.  Posters, community bulletin board,
>corners labeled as break-out spaces, the whole noodle.  She watched,
>listened, and took notes as I did a pretend opening.  Then I answered
>questions and made explanations and suggestions for about two hours, after
>which she had me go through the entire opening and closing again, word by
>word this time for an audio tape recorder.  I also loaned her a video that
>was made of me with a client about 3 years ago.
>
>Throughout our conversation in the room and during a brief lunch afterward,
>I felt some anxiety.  She did not seem to register any emotional impact
when
>I talked about things that went beyond the technique and logistics.  And I
>was not certain the occasion she wanted to apply it to really warranted it,
>but that wasn't my call, since I was not being asked to consult on the
>upcoming meeting, just to train her.  (Would I have refused to do this
>little training bit if I had judged that she'd use OS in the "wrong"
>circumstances?  I don't know.  Who am I to judge another?)
>
>I know her to be capable, experienced, and smart.  I figured confidence
>would come.  I trusted she could grasp the ideas.  I volunteered to be
>present for the event, of course, because I wanted to see what would
happen.
>
>A four-hour open space was set for this morning (4/27) from 8 to 12.  I
>showed up the night before and learned they'd cut the time available for
>open space down to 2 1/2 hours.  My heart sank.  Was I now part of some
kind
>of silly charade?  I was hurt and disappointed, and I could see they could
>see it in my face.  I had a moment when I was sitting by myself during the
>evening, and I tried to puzzle out exactly what was making me sad and
angry.
>Sadness, I think, for the participants, who might be confused or
frustrated.
>Angry that I had not been taken seriously when I warned them that doing OS
>for less than four hours may not be wise or fair.  I told the folks
involved
>they could re-configure the timing all they wanted, and the meeting would
>probably work, but the space wouldn't really get very far open, and that if
>people felt frustrated I hoped they would not blame the technique.
>
>I have this sense that without sufficient time, the space does not really
>open, and people employ the structure of opening-sessions-closing as a
>skeleton that offers little more than a twist on other approaches and
>potentially frustrates a lot of participants.  But even a little freedom is
>a funny thing.  In the end, what they did was 3 hours: a 30-minute opening,
>three 40-minute sessions, and a 30-minute close.  Worked like a charm.  45
>people cooked up 19 conversations, and folks buzzed and fluttered all over
>the place.  One group of seven met solidly for the whole two hours and
never
>sat down.  The rookie facilitator did just fine.
>
>So now I have to re-examine everything I've ever said about short OS gigs.
>What a pain.  Of course, I still don't really want to do one under four
>hours.  I have my ego attached to that idea.
>
>And training.  What do we think about sending folks into the center of the
>circle after one long conversation and watching a couple of run-throughs?
>But I never went through a training program either, so who knows.  Have you
>ever trained anybody in truncated fashion like this?  Did you get to
witness
>the result?  Come to think of it, this is the third time I've done it, and
>all three did well.  But I still don't recommend it, but why the hell not?
>
>
>Ralph
>--
>Ralph Copleman
>http://www.earthdreams.net
>609-895-1629